One of the questions we get asked all the time is…do niche sites still work in 2016? The answer is yes they do, but only if you build them the right way.
Gone are the days when you could easily put up thin sites with a few pages of content and then expect them to rank in search engines like Google. That just doesn’t work anymore. These days, it’s all about providing the visitor with quality information and adding value.
This means if you are willing to put in the work and put out quality content on a regular basis then you might as well give up now, as you are just going to be wasting your time. There are so many people that set up a site, add a few pieces of content, and then abandon it once the next shiny object comes along. Don’t be one of these people.
If you are determined to put in the time and effort that it takes for niche sites to become successful, then keep reading as this article is going to give you some really good ideas.
Keyword Research For Niche Sites
Without a doubt, a huge factor in whether your niche site is going to be successful or not comes during the keyword research phase. Unfortunately. many people get this completely wrong, and choose to go after high competition keywords that will take a lot of time (and money) to rank for.
Sure, it would be nice if you rank for keywords like “lose weight” or “LCD TV” in a matter of weeks, but the simple fact of the matter is you can’t.
That’s why you are going to find success a lot quicker and easier if you decide to go after long tail keywords for your niche site, especially in the beginning.
Why? Less competition is the main reason. While there might be thousands of sites competing to rank for the term “LCD TV,” there are definitely far less sites trying to rank for a keyword like “best cheap LCD TV under $1000 on sale.”
Another reason why long tail keywords should be high your list of priorities during the research phase is because many of them are phrases people are using when they are making a purchase decision.
In other words, they are buyer keywords, which means if your niche sites ranks for them you are getting right in front of where the money is.
Lastly, long tail keywords don’t take as many backlinks to rank for, so you can forget about having to spend thousands of dollars on expensive SEO packages and services. Some of these keywords can be ranked for with virtually no backlinks at all.
What are long tail keywords exactly? Basically, they are keywords that have 3 or 4 words, although some may have 5, 6, or 7 words…or maybe even more.
Guide to Finding Long Tail Keywords for Your Niche Site:
So now that you understand more about what long tail keywords are and why you should be using them, you’re no doubt eager to find out some ways on how to find these keywords for your own site? Well, luckily for you, we have compiled a few of the best ways below. Enjoy.
Google Keyword Planner
Since ranking your niche site in the Google search engine is a number 1 priority, what better place to start than a keyword tool offered by none other than Google themselves.
The Google Keyword Planner been around for years, and although it does have flaws it’s still an excellent way to find long tail keywords for a number of different niches.
Best way is to start off with a main keyword and then let Google keyword planner come up with other suggestions. This will normally be in the form of 2 and 3 word keywords.
You can then start putting some of these into the planner to get more long tail keywords that are 4 or even 5 words. It’s hard work, but well worth it.
The main problem with Google Keyword planner is that everyone else is using it. This ultimately means that you may find that much of your competition has done exactly the same thing as you, leading to everyone targeting the same long tail keywords.
With that being said, there still are very good keywords to be found within the Google Keyword Planner, you just need to put in the work.
The Alternative
If you don’t want to spend hours in the Google keyword planner then there are other options out there.
A couple of software programs might be suitable…Long Tail Pro and SEM Rush for example, although these are both still very time-consuming, not to mention expensive for the latter.
Another option would be to order a keyword research service for niche sites such as ours.
Using Google Search to Find Long Tail Keywords
Sticking with Google for the moment, you can also use their search engine to find exactly the kind of long tail keywords that people are searching for.
How? The easiest way is to simply use the search engine box and then take advantage of the auto-complete feature.
For example, if you type in “lose weight” to the Google search box, then Google instantly gives you auto suggestions on what people are searching for. Things like…
“Lose weight fast”
“Lose weight without dieting” etc etc.
The great thing about this auto-suggestion tool is that you can use it in a number of different ways to find literally hundreds of keywords.
You can put in a long tail keyword and then find even more longer tail keywords.
You can use every letter of the alphabet to get ideas. For example…
“Lose weight a”
“Lose weight b”
“Lose weight c”
The options are plentiful, and any niche site owner that decides to spend a few hours using this tool will definitely benefit in the form of many different long tail keywords.
UberSuggest to Find Long Tail Keywords
This is a little-known way to find keywords. Best of all, it actually gets information straight from the Google search auto-suggest features, but it saves you the time of having to manually put everything in like we have just discussed.
In other words, UberSuggest does all of the hard work for you, which means you only need to put in the main keyword to get lists of hundreds, and even thousands of long tail keywords at the click of a button.
There really isn’t much else to say about UberSuggest other than you need to be using it right now. It’s possible many of your competitors don’t even know about it, so use that to your advantage.
Google Related Searches
While we are still on the subject of using Google to find long tail keywords then you might also want to check out the related searches option that often appears at the bottom of page 1 for the search results.
This is Google telling you what people are also searching for that is closely related to what you have just searched for. In other words, these are keywords you should be using on your niche sites in order to have the best possible chance of getting the right kind of traffic.
Table of Contents
The good news is that you don’t have to read every single book ever published in your niche to get some really good keywords. All you really need to do is read the table of contents and this should give you many different ideas on what people want to know about.
Even better news is you don’t even have to buy any of these books, as sites like Amazon typically now give you a free preview.
This presents you with the perfect opportunity to find a few books in your niche, have a quick look at the table of contents and write down any ideas you get from the chapter listings.
You can then put these keywords into the Google Keyword Planner or UberSuggest in order to come up with many different variations of that keyword. It’s all very straight forward, but very effective when done right.
Forums and Answer Sites
When you consider that long tail keywords are simply people typing in words to Google and looking for answers to their questions or solutions to problems, then don’t you think it makes a lot of sense to go directly to where these people hang out? Of course it does.
For example, forums have been around pretty much since the beginning of the internet, and they show no signs of slowing down any time soon. In many niches, forums are stronger than ever.
An easy way to find many different forums in your niche is to type into Google – “Niche + “Forum” and you should get plenty of results to start you off.
It’s then a simple task of browsing the threads and watching for the topics that come up again and again. In particular, the keywords that people are using, especially of the long tail variety (hint, hint).
Answer sites are equally as valuable as forums when it comes to finding long tail keywords, especially if you use the 2 big sites…Quora and Yahoo Answers.
Much the same as forums, you can go to the sites directly and start browsing for topics related to your niche.
Another way is to search in Google by typing in – “site:Quora.com your niche” and then getting the results right there in Google.
Buyer Keywords
As mentioned earlier, one of the best kind of long tail keywords to rank for are so called buyer keywords. In other words, these are phrases that people use when they want to make a purchase but are looking for the best deal or a discount.
The benefit of using these kind of keywords in your content is that you are literally intercepting a sale that is about to happen by getting the potential customer onto your site.
Now you don’t want to target these kind of keywords exclusively or try and stuff as many as you can into one article or blog post, as this typically makes your site look a bit spammy.
Instead, do it in a natural way so that Google starts to see you as one of the authorities in your niche rather than a site it bans from the search engines.
Examples of buyer keyword phrases:
- product review
- buy product
- best product under $500
- product discount August 2016
- product promo code
- product deals
- etc
There really is no limit to the amount of long tail buyer keyword phrases you can come up with. The best way to do this is by getting a piece of paper and then writing down as many ideas as you can think of.
Conclusion
Hopefully, this article has given you some great ideas on how to find long tail keywords for niche sites.
When you consider all the online business models out there, the niche site model is without a doubt one of the best for beginners and experts alike.
It’s cheap to get going. Many times all you need is a domain name and hosting. You can then use WordPress to start adding content with one of their free themes. After that, all you really need is hard work and a desire to succeed.
Even better, if you find the right long tail keywords then you should start to see results pretty quickly, in that Google will start to send you visitors so you get that much-needed traffic that most niche site owners find hard to attract, especially in the beginning.
When you do the niche site model correctly then you can expect to get pretty close to passive income once you have a few sites up and running.
The foundation of any niche site is long tail keywords. Follow the steps above and you are already well on your way to having a successful online business.
